The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-02-24
HOW TO SAVE MONEY.
Rules Whose Observance Would Add 20 tn
Happiness of Mankind.

Rules Whose Observance Would Add IN Tia
Happiness of Mankind.
Keep a cash account. A very trivial
and secular suggestion, YOU NAV saw.
but simple as it is, it is one the obsery-
anee of which would add immensely to
the present limited amount of practical
righteousness and happiness. BY cash
account is meant merely an account of
money received and paid out, and not
bookkeeping as in business.
am aware that there is large class
of sensible and well-meaning persons
who would say: II receive SO much
and try to save little" Let me say
to such persons that by not knowing
exactly how they spend their limited
earnings they miss learning one of the
most important lessons of life. The
habit itself of keeping accounts is a
good discipline; tits lesson in memory
and order, and accuracy and business
methods. But more than this, it teaches
one hour to spend money. As money
represents the greater part of what we
do, and of our relation to the world,
we do not know what we do, nor how
we are related to the world, until we
know how we spend our money. To
receive so much and spend it for
what we happen to need, and
make no farther note of it, is like
guessing at the time of day. We insist
to the minute on the accuracy of our
watches, but how our income is divided
up is guess-work. 1t would help man
amazingly. to a correct estimate of his
life if he knew accurately how and when
and for what he spent his money. There
is no other way in which a well-mean-
ing man can properly adjust this great
factor in his life. BY an account, he
can see how much has gone into the
several departments of expenditure, and
review of it will show him whether he
has been wise or foolish, prudent or
careless, true to himself and family
and society, or whether he has been
unequal or ungenerous or Oyer-indul-
gent to any. We apply science, and
close, accurate methods to all forms of
labor; why should we not apply them
to the use we make of the product of
labor?
The poorer a man is, the more he re-
quires this habit Of accurate accounts;
the less there is to divide, the more need
of care. He thus learns at the proper
moment where to retrench, or in what
direction he may wisely spend more.
1t saves also much trouble and dispute.
BOokkeepers are not infallible, and
memory is poor witness against them,
but when books are kept on both sides.
misunderstanding is greatly lessened.
The habit also has distinct moral
value. One who has rightly measured
human society will have conscientious
sense of the use of money which is I'M
peratiye, and will approve or condemn
ones self accordingly. WecOuld make
no better scrutiny of ourselves than to
lake, at the end of year, carefully
kept account of money spent, and see
how it has been used; how much fol
necessities; how much for luxuries
how much for self; how much fol
others; how much for books; how
much for passing pleasures; how
much for the good of the world and
how much for the pride of life; how
much for the body and how much for
the mind; how much wasted and how
much wisely used. Tabulate these, and
then lay them beside your manhood
and standard of duty and purpose in
life, and see if they are sustained. This
is part of that self-inspection-that
moral inventory of himself that every
man should make ut least once q year;
for we need not only an interior look
at ourselves, but one from the outside
and reflected by our conduct. Such a
habit as this would help us in that field
of minor morals where we often make
our graEest mistakes. But aside from
this, it is a habit that tends greatly to
simplify and smooth and straighten the
details of life. 1t teaches prudence,
Judgment, foresight, and so creates an
atmosphere of dignity about the life.
For money and the money side of life is
to be treated respectfully and thoroughly
and in high, business-like ways even
by those who have little of it.-ReU. j.
T. Munger, d. d., in Golden Rule.